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Volodymyr Zelensky has been named 2022’s world’s most influential Jew
The Ukrainian president heads the list, with American writer Dara Horn and Israeli pop star Noa Kirel also named
September 29, 2022 11:00
The Ukrainian president heads the list, with American writer Dara Horn and Israeli pop star Noa Kirel also named
September 29, 2022 11:00Volodymyr Zelensky has been named 2022’s world’s most influential Jew.
It is rare for political leaders to be seen as icons, but this is how the Ukrainian president is now seen, says the Jerusalem Post in its annual list of the world’s 50 most influential Jews.
“The embattled leader has changed the world order in a way not seen since the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 1980s, getting almost the entire western world aligned against Russia,” it said.
Number two on the list, which honours people in government, art, medicine and literature, is Israeli president Yair Lapid. His nomination is for convening, in March, a group of Arab foreign ministers at a regional summit, in what was a first for the Middle East.
In ninth position are presidential team Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog, who this month attended the Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. “If this performance to date is an indication of what he will doing over the next five and three-quarter years, president Isaac Herzog will be the diplomatic face of Israel,” said the paper.
Canadian-Israeli businessman and self-appointed Israeli ambassador-at-large Sylvan Adams, who has brought world-class cultural and sporting events to the Jewish state was placed 14th.
Position 17 goes to AIPAC president Betsy Berns Korn who has now held several positions at the group that works for a strong US-Israel relationship. Fellow American and physiologist Professor David Jay Julius, a Nobel Prize laureate was placed two positions behind her.
Moscow’s former chief rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt who decided he could no longer live in Russia while its president attacked innocent Ukrainians, was declared twenty second. After he left Moscow, he travelled to countries with borders with Ukraine, leading the Conference of European Rabbis’ efforts to bring relief to Ukrainian Jewish refugees. Until this year, the rabbi was not anonymous, but “he wasn’t the media star he is today and known to the masses,” said the paper.
Feted author Dara Horn whose first non-fiction book People Love Dead Jews came in at number 33, and Rabbi Angela Buchdahl was placed 35 for being the first Asian-American rabbi and cantor.
In fiftieth position is Israel’s queen of pop Noa Kirel, 21, who next year represents Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest. The singer hopes the competition will fast track her to international stardom. If it does, she’ll also be higher up on next year’s list.